Page 68 of One Sweet Match Up

“Get to know her.” She smirked. “It’s called dating.”

He blew out a breath. “It’s not going to work.”

She snapped her fingers and turned on her heels. “C’mon. I know what you need.”

“What?”

“To open Mary’s hope chest.”

The last thing he needed was to open anything else from Mary. Still, he was a little curious about the infamous hope chest. He followed his sister up to the second floor, stopping at the first bedroom at the top of the stairs.

Rachel flipped on the light and shut the door after him. “Okay, go ahead.”

His gaze lowered to the antique oak chest against the wall. “Damn, that’s old.”

“Just open it,” Rachel said, but then grabbed his hand. “Wait!”

He threw his hands in the air. “Geez, okay.” One minute she was ordering him to open it, and now she didn’t want him to. He really should have just gone to the bar for that drink he needed.

“Let me check your hand first.” She inspected his palm. “No grease.”

“Grease?” His heart sped up. Did he hear Rachel right? Why would she ask that?

“Zoe had grease on her hands after she opened it. That’s why I thought she and Will were soul mates on account of he used to be covered in it.”

He grinned inwardly. Yeah, Will wasn’t the only one who’d recently been covered in grease. He decided to keep that to himself. Right now, he wanted to open the hope chest. “May I?”

Rachel stepped aside. “Go for it.”

He took a deep breath, hoping he’d find more than a soup ladle or a Joker’s card inside.

18

Zoe hovered over her laptop, searching for inexpensive furniture movers.

Once she closed her shop for good, she’d pack up her things and leave town. It wouldn’t be hard to get out of her apartment lease, and she could arrange the sale of the shop space from Colorado. She hadn’t talked to her dad yet, but she was sure he’d let her stay with him until she found a job and got back on her feet.

The thought of moving home made her heart break, but she didn’t have any other options.

She glanced behind her shoulder at her empty kitchen. There was no reason to stay. Not after last night.

What Donovan had accused her of had been preposterous. How could he believe that her seeking revenge on him was the sole motivation for moving here? How could he think she was capable of something so malicious?

She sighed. Easy. He could because he didn’t know her.

And he didn’t trust her. Why would he? She’d lied. She deserved him throwing the fact that Denwood wasn’t a real place in her face.

If she could go back in time and take it all back, she would. If only he could understand how it was her massive insecurity that drove all of her bad decisions since the night of the blizzard.

His firing her had been the worst night of her life, up until now. The firing didn’t even come close to last night’s public declaration that he was done with her.

A loud knock on the glass door jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Will on the other side, giving her a short wave.

Moving through the shop, she unlocked the door. “Hi.” She held the door open, grateful to see him. Will might be the only friend she had in this town after last night. Everyone else would, no doubt, side with Donovan.

“Hey, how are you doing?”

“Never better,” she said flatly, walking back behind the counter, eying his casual flannel and jeans. Not the suit attire he’d been sporting lately. “Not working today?”

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